What is cost difference for life insurance between men and women?

insurance is all about actuarial risk - how likely is it that a claim will be made during the term of the policy.

women will be able to obtain cheaper life cover than men due to an increased life expectancy - in very general terms.

however, women will usually pay more for health related cover such as income protection and critical illness as they tend to perform a caring role more than men - a sweeping term i know but women tend to look after children or others more than men and therefore have contact with the medical profession more than men, this means that women are more likely to ask the "oh by the way" question about themselves whilst taking their ill child to the GP.

women also tend to have more "maintenance" checkups than men in terms of screening for female specific conditions and are often less phased to discuss intimate problems about their health as opposed to men.

there is also the argument that biologically more can go wrong with the female anatomy due to the ability to bear children and in a similar way to performance cars, the more that can go wrong, the more it costs to cover.

i do realise that these are very general terms but insurance actuaries have to use something as a yardstick when determining risk from the "norm".

there were concerns last year that equal rights movements would cause an end to gender pricing which would impact on all types of insurance including motor cover.

but in simple terms on a clean life the above factors will influence cost.

where it becomes more difficult is in cases of gender reassignment as different insurers take a different view on how to determine gender, some by a legal definition or declaration, others by what is on your birth certificate.

the above life expectancy issues also impact on the pricing of pension annuities.

As a rough amount, its about 20% less for women. If we're just talking about term assurance, in this case, men die more often than women up to the ages of 65.

Strange as it sounds, I am told by underwriters that men try to brave out an illness and most try not to see a doctor, until it's too late. Most women would take the time to see a doctor and therefore have their illness treated, thus extending their life expectancy.

The average age of a woman dying is now 86 and its 82 for a man and that fact is priced into almost all forms of insurance, assurance and annuities

Generally when looking at term assurance, which is a type of life insurance, women are cheaper to insure than men as women have a longer life expectancy. However, if we look at critical illness cover then women are more expensive than men, as they are more likely to contract a serious illness.
Without knowing more specific details about the individual we couldn't give a precise cost different. However, running a quote with one insurer, based on a man and female of the same age, and looking for the same cover the woman is 38% cheaper to insure.

Heads up in advance of a European Court of Justice key decision due on March 1.
Issue - whether use of gender to price (any) insurance cover is discriminatory and should be banned. If so there may or may not be a transition period for insurance companies to adapt.
Big losers - women for life cover and car ins. (esp < 26 yrs old)
- men for pension annuities PHI (permanent Health insurance) and PMI (private medical insurance).